STATE EDUCATION BOARD
MINUTES
Members Present: Dwight Davis, Richard Fraser, Blanche Kelley, David Luce, Don Messier, Wilma Paronto, Albert Pearce, & John Stewart
Members Absent: None
CHSVT Administration Present: Bob Lucenti, Director - Stephan LaTulippe, Principal - Sheila Commo, Program Services Clerk
Guests Present: Betty White,
Bennington CHSVT Correctional Instructor, Eric Marchese, had a graduation for two students, Chris Lantz and David Willette. The CHSVT State Education Board was in attendance. Principal, Steve LaTulippe, gave an inspirational speech to the board and students and gave Eric Marchese and others, as well as, the two graduates a chance to speak of their experience and congratulate the two students for their remarkable journey to graduation.
The meeting was called to order at
The Board and central office greeted and introduced themselves
to newly appointed board member, John Stewart. John was appointed to the board
on
1. Review of
Meeting Minutes
Blanche had a couple of changes for the meeting minutes of
2. NEASC Review of
Steve handed out a copy of the CHSVT mission statement and allowed time for the board to review and give comments. The CHSVT faculty feels that the new mission statement meets the needs of the school. Bob gave new board member, John Stewart a brief history of the NEASC process including public vs. independent school status and the visiting process for accreditation. Sheila will send John a packet of NEASC information. Bruce Berryman has been hired as a consultant, for the NEASC accreditation process, by the CHSVT. The Steering Committee will meet with Mr. Berryman on May 9th, at Lyndon State College to review the accreditation process.
Steve also handed out the tallied results of the student questionnaire that was designed by the Steering Committee and faculty and given to students at all 17 sites. Steve pointed out that an impressive 90 percent of the students surveyed felt that they were being provided with a high quality education. One more survey is being designed to give out to community agencies like churches, VSAC, Department of Labor, etc. Dave was concerned that some of the results from the graphs given to the board last month were different than the results of the numbers given today. Steve responded that the results were still coming in and the numbers changed slightly from last month.
John asked for an explanation of what adjuncts were. Bob gave an explanation of adjuncts and a discussion ensued about adjuncts and their credentials and teaching status. There is a plan to look at adjuncts more closely and monitor what they are teaching as part of the accreditation process.
Dave would like to see the written comments from the survey results from the students.
John asked who was responsible for funding of CHSVT in the facilities. Bob explained how the funding used to be part of the DOC budget. Now we are funded separately in the Governor's budget. General fund dollars and funding is based on annual student attendance minus transportation and housing. Funding is approximately $7,800 per student per year.
3. Policies and
Procedures
There is concern that there is not an organized book of
policies and procedures for the CHSVT. These need to be in place before the
NEASC visit in October. Bob suggested that DOC's Director
of Policy and Procedures, Suzanne Santarchangelo, come to the next board
meeting to discuss policies and procedures with the board. Dwight will pick up
copies of policy manuals from
Wilma was concerned that some of the facility supervisors may not be supportive of the NEASC process. Bob made sure that all sites were willing to work to help with approval before the process began.
4. Concerns and Issues with Local Boards
There was discussion about a conflict between a local board member and faculty which lead to discussion about determining state board responsibility regarding their oversight of local boards and who should handle the complaint.
Dwight Davis made a
motion to allow Bob Lucenti to investigate the complaint and draft a letter of
recommendation that he and Chuck Pearce would approve together and sign when
they met on May 17, 2006. David Luce seconded the motion. The motion was called
and passed unanimously.
5. Legislative/Budget
End of Year Report
Special Education has been under funded for years. Bob handed out a copy of the Special Education Monitoring Report to the Board. The Special Education Monitoring team from the Department of Education has required special education services at all CHSVT sites. The legislature has approved an additional $140,000 in funding to allow for additional educators. The $140,000 will make the special education fund total $610,000.
The General Fund funding has been level funded for next year with $45,000 coming from Carl Perkins and $350,000 from the neglected and delinquent children fund.
6. Old Business
There has been another $1,000 donation made for the Beryle Gardner Award. There was a brief discussion about the need to look into a savings plan for the money.
Blanche gave central office the latest Retired Teachers Association newsletter to be sent to each facility to read. There is a nice article about the CHSVT on the front cover.
David would like to continue the conversation about having
guidance counselors at the education sites, and he also has some concern about
the
There is concern that the local boards are not getting support at meetings from the superintendents and assistant superintendents. Should there be a state board policy to require attendance to these meetings or a letter from the administration expressing concern with the lack of attendance from Superintendents and Assistant Superintendents? No further action or decision was made at this time.
7. New Business
Meeting places for next year's meetings were set today so that Vocational Instructor, Scott Tomlinson, and the graphic arts program at Northwest State Correctional Facility could begin production of the CHSVT calendars. The following dates and meeting places were chosen:
There was discussion as to whether the meeting next month,
June 7th will be held at Rutland Probation and Parole or Marble Valley Regional
Correctional Facility. It was decided that the meeting would take place at
٭Please note, since this Board meeting, the location of the October 16th faculty meeting has been changed from the Best Western in Waterbury, to the Capitol Plaza in Montpelier.
Agenda items for June Meeting:
Policy Procedures
NEASC updates
Staff presentation from MVRCF
Guidance Counselor and CRC updates
David Luce made a
motion to adjourn the meeting at
Respectfully Submitted,
Sheila Commo